He said: "Today you have a very small proportion of men who want to use makeup products, but that proportion is growing and it will continue to grow.

"I think its just awareness - two things are happening: men know they can use makeup, and they know what it does when you use it. The second thing is that the taboos are going, so between my generation and my son's generation the taboos are very different.

"Is the trend going to go towards bold colours or more subtle? I don't know. But what I do know is we are listening very carefully to consumers and what they want."

Online retailer ASOS last week launched a male-only beauty range from MMUK, which includes a concealer, a beard and brow filler and mascara.

Alex Dalley, co-founder of MMUK, said, "We hope that this move places makeup for men on the radars of thousands of guys out there who simply want to look their best every day."

At the higher end of the market, Tom Ford has launched a small collection of male grooming products, including an eyebrow maintenance kit and a concealer set.

Makeup artists who usually only cater for women are also starting to post tutorials specifically for men on their websites. Charlotte Tilbury's website reads: "I get so many requests from men asking how they too can benefit from the power of skincare and makeup products."

Last year, Gary Thompson, a 26-year-old beauty blogger, became the first man to star in a makeup advert - for L'Oreal's True Match Foundation.

At the time, he said: "I think we've come far with accepting men wearing makeup. If you look at it five years ago, if you thought of men wearing makeup you'd think of extreme sparkly eyeshadow, but today it doesn't have to be like that. You could wear a good foundation, a good contour, a natural base and it doesn't have to be extreme."